Alabama

Frances Coleman: Dreaming of that V8 we could've had

When Alabamians go to the polls next week to elect a new governor, maybe we should wear black arm bands as a sign of mourning for what might have been.

In the words of the old TV commercial, "We could’ve had a V8." Instead, on Nov. 2 we’ll be choosing between two very ordinary men, neither of whom shows much promise of becoming a stellar governor.

The Republican candidate, Robert Bentley, is a dermatologist and two-term state legislator. He is pleasant and seemingly well-intentioned, but also dull and uninspiring.

The Democrat, Ron Sparks, is a two-term agriculture commissioner. He, too, is pleasant and seems sincere, although he easily could be convicted of what the professor in "My Fair Lady" called "the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue."

The V8 we could’ve had? Take your pick.

Alabama Democrats had a thoroughbred race horse on their primary ballot: four-term Congressman Artur Davis. Handsome and Harvard-educated, he earned a reputation in the U.S. House as pragmatic and hard-working.

In electing Alabama’s first black governor, we could have sent a dramatic message about our state to the rest of the nation — indeed, to the world.

But Davis ran afoul of the one group you might not have guessed would stand in the way of an African-American candidate: Alabama’s old-guard black politicos, to whom he had not paid the proper homage on his way to political stardom.

Without their support, Davis fell to Ron Sparks.

Alabama Republicans had a race horse on their primary ballot, too: former state senator and community college chancellor Bradley Byrne.

Also good-looking and well-educated, Byrne cut his political teeth in Montgomery rather than Washington. From his beginnings on the state school board through his service in the Alabama Senate, he exuded integrity, pragmatism and determination.

But he did something a singer/songwriter of his generation long ago cautioned against: He tugged on Superman’s cape.

When Byrne called out the Alabama Education Association’s Paul Hubbert, the powerful AEA chief unleashed his mighty teachers’ union and crushed the man who would be governor, leaving Bentley as the last Republican standing.

We could’ve had a race that featured two unusually bright, energetic, well-spoken, hard-working, scandal-free and progressive men. We could’ve debated tax reform, ethics reform, campaign-finance reform and all the other reforms our state so desperately needs.

We could’ve talked about finding a better way to budget the money we send to Montgomery, a better way to educate our children and a better way to provide the services Alabamians require.

Instead, we’re stuck with candidates who recite and repeat platitudes. One touts gambling as Alabama’s financial salvation and the other dodges questions about stealth contributions from the AEA.

We could’ve had that V8: a governor’s race for the ages, with high-quality candidates and a guaranteed good outcome no matter which man won.